1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for producing and displaying an electronic program guide in an entertainment device that receives selected programs, and more specifically to methods and systems for creating and using a custom virtual channel in an entertainment device that receives selected programs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Program receivers for cable, satellite, and broadcast television systems, which may also be referred to as set top boxes or receivers, provide viewers with a large number of television programs broadcast on a large number of television channels. To determine what program a viewer would like to watch, users may consult a printed television program schedule to determine what programs will be broadcast at a particular time. More recently, electronic program guides have been developed, wherein the program schedule information is displayed on a user's television screen. These electronic program guides allow the user to navigate through the television program schedule by pressing buttons on a remote control.
In a typical program guide display, television programs are organized and displayed in a grid, where each row in the grid contains television programs for a particular channel. The columns in the grid correspond to a series of program periods or program timeslots for scheduled broadcast times. The user may scroll up or down to view program listings for different channels, or may pan left or right to view information about programs being broadcast at different times.
As used herein, a channel includes typical television channels broadcast over the airwaves or through cable and satellite distribution systems. In addition, a channel may be any communication link through which program signals or data are transmitted and received for current viewing or later viewing from a storage media. Thus, a channel may include a network, such as the Internet, through which data is transmitted for present, real-time viewing, or a medium through which data is transmitted more slowly, not in real-time, and viewed later when some or all data is received and can be viewed at the intended speed or frames per second.
It is not uncommon for a program provider to offer hundreds of channels of programs, which can make the viewer's task of selecting a program to watch tedious and time-consuming. With so many channels and programs to choose from, the user may spend too much time searching for a program rather than watching the program.
Prior art electronic program guides have provided some tools for enhancing the search for programs. For example, prior art program guides allow the user to select “favorite channels” from the hundreds of channels available, and display only the favorite channels in a program schedule grid from which the viewer may choose a program to watch. This schedule display method filters out hundreds of channels and makes the selection from a few favorite channels easier and quicker.
While the use of favorite channels can make program selection easier, the viewer still has to scroll through all the favorite channels. With hundreds of channels available, the user may have selected dozens of favorite channels, which means there is still a lot of information displayed in the program schedule grid and it may still take a while to select a program to watch.
It should be apparent to those persons skilled in the art that a need exists for an improved method and system for producing and displaying an electronic program guide that provides a program viewer with an efficient and user-friendly way of selecting programs to view.